Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball fell on the road at New Mexico State, 65-47, on Saturday evening at Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

With the loss, WKU closes its regular-season road slate and drops to 16-13 overall with a 7-9 mark in Conference USA.

Tyrone Marshall Jr. led the Hilltoppers in the scoring column, finishing with 16 points, three rebounds and three assists. Leeroy Odiahi finished with a team-high six rebounds, while Braxton Bayless tied Marshall for a team-high in assists with three.

The Tops struggled to connect from the field and from the arc, shooting at a .26.9% (14-of-52) clip with a .25.0% (8-of-32) mark from 3-point range. New Mexico State outrebounded WKU 48-25 and 14-2 on the offensive glass, while outscoring the Tops 9-1 on second-chance points and 24-6 in the paint.

After the Aggies opened scoring with a layup 16 seconds into the game, the Tops responded with a Jalen Jackson 3-pointer 30 seconds later to take an early 3-2 lead. The Aggies connected on another bucket in the paint to reclaim a 4-3 lead, but a Don McHenry layup off a fast break gave WKU the advantage back, 5-4, at the 17:51 mark of the first. NM State hit on a pull-up jumper to regain a 6-5 lead with 17:24 to play until the half.

The Aggies went on a 6-0 run to bring the score to 10-5 before WKU’s Khristian Lander hit from range to cut the margin down to two, 10-8, with 15:51 remaining in the half. Another 6-0 run by the Aggies pushed the margin back out to eight, 16-8, entering the first media break.

The Tops battled back to cut the deficit to two, 16-14, with 12:41 remaining in the first. NM State outscored WKU 5-1 over the next four-plus minutes and led 21-15 heading into the under-eight media timeout. The Aggies continued the scoring run out of the break, extending the streak to 10 unanswered and pushing the lead out to 14, 29-15, with 3:21 remaining until the half.

A Marshall 3-pointer cut into the deficit, but the Aggies maintained the 14-point margin entering the half and went to the break leading, 34-20.

The teams returned for the second half and WKU’s poor shooting continued, as NM State pushed its lead out to 18, 46-28, four minutes in. The Tops shot just 27.6% from the field and 22.2% in the second half, falling behind by 23, 62-39, with 8:20 remaining in regulation to mark the largest deficit of the game for the team.

The Tops were unable to cut the margin below double digits, and regulation ended with WKU falling to New Mexico State, 65-47.

The all-time series between the Hilltoppers and the Aggies now stands at 12-3.

Marshall added two blocks and a steal.

Odiahi finished with a team-best six rebounds, including four on the offensive end, and led the team in steals with two.

The Aggies outscored the Tops 9-1 on second-chance points and 24-6 in the paint. NM State benefitted off 18 points from its bench compared to the Tops’ 11.

WKU held a lead for just 55 seconds to NM State’s 38:51. The game saw just four lead changes, all coming in the first three minutes of the game. The Aggies took the lead at 17:24 of the first half and remained in front for the remainder of competition.

WKU returns home for its final week of regular-season competition hosting FIU on Thursday. Tipoff at E.A. Diddle Arena is slated for 7 p.m. with the game streaming live on ESPN+.